Articles Tagged withBroward defense lawyer

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has come under scrutiny after it was revealed a man arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a juvenile last year was charged earlier this month with armed kidnapping and sexual battery of another person in 2003. That case had remained cold for 15 years.

At the time, the woman reported to police she was walking on South State Road 7 one night in late December when an unknown man approached with a gun and threatened to shoot her if she struggled or made a scene. She then said the man forced her to a nearby car dealership and sexually assaulted her repeatedly inside a vehicle. The woman survived the attack, reported it to police and a rape kit was performed and submitted to the crime laboratory at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. But nothing happened. Defendant has a lengthy criminal record and documents from the Hollywood Police Department show their agency received a crime lab report from Broward in 2006 indicating a routine search of their national DNA database had returned a possible lead in the 2003 case with this particular defendant. It’s unclear why neither agency followed up.

A 2014 audit of practices at the Hollywood Police Department, according to NBC Miami, revealed the agency had dozens of sexual assault evidence kits stowed away in a locked evidence room, rather than submitted to a crime laboratory. Once the audit was finished, two arrests were made in the two dozen cases that were reviewed. The chief reported at the time that he was establishing a special unit solely to handle rape kit analysis. Continue reading

A criminal case for lewd lascivious molestation against a Weston foot doctor has ended in mistrial after a recorded phone conversation played for jurors violated Florida’s spousal privilege statute.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, Broward Circuit Judge Raag Singhal made the call after jurors heard a recorded call between defendant, Dr. Augustine Bollo, and the alleged victim’s mother in which the mother alleged Bollo’s wife did not believe he was innocent.

Singhal considered the defense attorney’s request for mistrial after the tape was played, and after reviewing case law, granted that request. Continue reading